Promised but Not Delivered

A contractor came under fire for
taking customers' money without delivering the promised outdoor kitchens and
landscapes. Instead, he used that money to pay bills for his own business. Louis
"Tuffy" Davis, owner of TD Landscape Design LLC., in Bastrop, Texas, said
he knew that his business was in financial trouble, but he continued to accept
customers' deposits for work, even though the company was veering toward
bankruptcy.

He told the bankruptcy trustee that,
as the financial pressure mounted, he wrote company checks totaling $44,000 to
himself. Those checks were converted into cashier's checks for sub-contractors
and suppliers who would no longer take his personal checks.

When asked why his suppliers weren't
paid, Davis said: "I didn't have the funds. I was meeting with investors,
loan people, to get the company back upright." He also said that the bank
accounts for his businesses were co-mingled, and he used customer's money to
pay company bills, his employees, to make insurance payments and to put
fuel in his company vehicles. He owes millions of dollars to hundreds of customers
and sub-contractors across the Austin, Texas area.